Programas socioeducativos grupales para padres/madres promotores de

In regards to the practical nursing training and in the same letter sent by Mrs. Catharine McNeil to the General Nursing Council for England and Wales, Mrs. McNeil requested a copy of the syllabus for the assistant nurses’ training. “I should be grateful if you would send me the syllabus for

the assistant nurses’ training, with any helpful hints you may have with conducting such a course (Male Nurses)”.

(TNA, 1959) This above quotation is very important, and shows us that nurses who studied the practical nursing course were called assistant nurses and that male nurses are again the main focus. The quotation also reveals that Mrs. McNeil was not an expert in conducting such a course since she asked in her letter for some suggestions for conducting the practical nursing course. Mrs. McNeil may have asked this question on behalf of the trainers who were delegated to train those

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nurses. But, if a more in depth general nursing training, which is a more sophisticated type of nursing training, was available at that time, the practical nursing training course would be much easier to conduct. In other words, it certainly would be easier for the trainers to carry out the practical nursing course, since they were able to manage the more sophisticated professional nursing course.

Asking for some “hints” or suggestions with regards to how to conduct a practical nursing course, leaves the following questions open: a) how confident were these CN trainers about training student nurses and b) what was the actual reason behind the inability to continue with the general or the professional nursing course for the qualification of the S. R.N. With respect to b), it can be argued that the discontinuation of the general nursing course was probably not only due to the student nurses’ poor standards of education, as has been hinted at several times, but it might also have been due to other challenges and difficulties that the trainers themselves face. For example, they may have simply lacked the skills to run such a course themselves rather than the inadequacy of the student’s standards of education.

As Mrs. McNeil requested:

“a copy of the syllabus of training for assistant nurses, curriculum of training, The schedule of practical ward work and a copy of the conditions under which hospitals are approved as training schools for admission to the role of assistant nurses”.

(TNA, 1959) The above quotation lists the documents sent to Mrs. McNeil of the QEH in Aden by M. Houghton of the UKCC. It suggests that this course is applicable for staff who work in a ward setting in a hospital. In addition, it reveals that at that time hospitals had to have particular possessions to be recognized as being suitable for training assistant nurses or training nursing students in general. However, if this hospital (QEH) was suitable for training general nurses, it should also have been suitable to train nurses who were of a lower rank of

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nursing status as well. But this also suggests that since nursing training was carried out in QEH and before then the Civil Hospital, these two hospitals were at that time considered as teaching hospitals and thus suitable for training purposes.

However, M Houghton goes on to explain that:

“The syllabus of training for the pupil assistant nurse is less theoretical in content than that for the general nurses and is designed for those whose educational attainments are not sufficient to enable them to pursue successfully the full course of training for admission to the register of nurses”.

(TNA, 1959)

Furthermore, she emphasizes that:

“This training is essentially practical in its approach and would appear to be Suitable for nurses whom you are hoping to train in Aden”.

(TNA, 1959) The training was clearly very practical in orientation; however, it has not been possible to establish a clearer picture of the contents of this course. Having said this, we do have information that suggest the course was more suitable to the local students in SA at least from the trainers’ point of view.

From the interviews, we learn that many members of the nursing staff attended the practical nursing course somewhat late in their nursing career. For example, one interviewee stated:

“I worked as a nurse orderly since 1960, then I did a course in practical nursing for one year here in the hospital school or nursing school”.

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From the quote above we also learn that the practical nursing course was also undertaken over the course of one year. The quotation might also indicate that taking the course was normal for people were already working in a hospital and who were familiar with the hospital environment by working with nurses, and patients.

The subordinate nursing staff that we have mentioned previously are likely to have been those who are named orderlies and who were able to do a one-year practical nursing course to become assistant nurses. It could be suggested that there was not much difference between the two jobs of the subordinate nursing staff and the assistant nurses as the two groups are working as subordinates to the staff nurses or in other words under the CNs. However, in relation to practical training course one question that could be raised here is that; if the subordinate nursing staff were allowed to do a one year course instead of a two year course to become assistant nurses, and if this was truly the case, it is not clear if it is appropriate for the practical nursing course to be reduced to one- year course, instead of two years without consulting the UKCC. It could be that those who were responsible for staff training in Aden were permitted to do so if needed, taking into consideration the type of students they are training as well as the setting as a whole. However, one of the main objectives of this part of this chapter is to reveal how the practical nursing course was taught in SA in the period under study and it is also concerned with the contents of this course. This data are unfortunately unavailable. Yet, things seem to be very confusing and muddled when it comes to the practical nursing and the subordinate course.